By Ryan Parsons | Image property of Columbia Pictures, Variety
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Even with a nice mix of new competition, Sony's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs held strong, barely dropped, and took the top spot (again) with $24.6 million.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Stays on Top
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs declined a miniscule 19% for its second frame to bring the film's total 10-day cume to $60 million.
Surrogates, on the other hand, opened below expectations with $15 million; landing it the number two spot. With an $80 million budget and a big marketing campaign -- that I believe was all spent on that annoying campaign at IMDB -- Disney has to wonder if they are ever going to make their money back. Fortunately the film did do better overseas, with $12.2 million from 10 markets.
Fame also fell below expectations, and took the third slot with $10 million. MGM is already acknowledging that Meatballs put a serious ding in the film's potential audience. Unlike Surrogates, Fame only cost $18 million to make, allowing for MGM to easily recoup their costs while the film remains in theaters.
Also opening this weekend, Pandorum might have felt some backlash after not allowing press to screen the film before its release. The sci-fi horror, which saw mixed reviews in the end, opened to $4.4 million.